Written by boaters for boaters, The Floater has for now closed and the website will vanish in January 2019. To preserve her extremely well researched articles and blog posts for the benefit of the waterways historical record, we feel priviliged to repost these articles here on londonboaters.org

All the craft are privately owned and on the National Historic Ships Register, saving the past for the future, but not getting any help from C&RT. They are trying to impose huge 25% cost increases on us for less than 5% access to the network.

All boaters need to unite and look after the interests of each other no matter what their craft type, we all have a place on the waterways that belong to us already. United we stand, divided we fall.

London Boaters was set up in 2008 as a means of keeping CCing boaters in touch with each other. The initial idea was pretty much a monthly night in a pub, catching up, drinking and discussing boat stuff or any other old bollocks.

The first Pyrate Regatta took place in August 2009 on the marshes behind Edmonton Ikea but afterwards the monthly meetings kind of dropped off. A sense of ‘job done’? Hangovers? Winter? Who knows.

London boaters are set to ‘reclaim the towpath’ on the east London rivers and canals to promote safety and solidarity, as a survey of London towpath users reveals that just over half have often, or sometimes, avoided the towpath because of fear of crime.